Introspective
by Angel Frog
Summary: A look into the thoughts of different characters.
1. Chapter 1

I sometimes wonder if he realizes that I am not all that I seem. I don't think so, but you never know. I think he notices that I am harder for him to fight then I was when I first fought him, but I don't think he realizes why. His friends would never understand if he tried to tell them, I don't think. I guess there are some things you can only understand firsthand.

There they are. I better not get too close just yet. I don't want him to know I'm here. Not yet, anyway. He walks with his friends, but he seems apart somehow. Does he realize that he is different from them? Yes, at least somewhat. But I don't think he realizes it consciously. He'll learn eventually.

I will gradually become harder for him to beat, but I don't think he will view me as an enemy right away. Not even when I give him a full fight before he puts me in that thermos thing of his. By the time I fight him with all I have, maybe he will realize that I am more than just a nuisance.

I will never be able to truly fight him when he realizes his full power, but for now I am happy to push his limits for him. Each fight with him, I have let loose more of my capabilities, and eventually he will be able to beat me. But until then, he will see me as the nuisance that pops up constantly. I will probably never have his respect, but at least he will understand that even those with strange obsessions are not powerless.

Oops. I got too close. He sensed me. Oh, well. Time to put on my show. He will never respect me, but maybe someday he will realize that I am one of his teachers, too.

"I am the Box Ghost! Fear me!"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I'm not rich enough to own anything.

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They say that it is lonely at the top. While I don't consider myself at the top, I do get quite lonely. Few humans even know of me, and the same could be said for the ghosts. Those that do know of me usually fear me, though I do not try to be feared.

Recently, two more humans have found out about me. If they were afraid, they hide it remarkably well. Admittedly, they would have plenty of incentive to be afraid, but I wonder if they will realize what I did.

I did not emerge until Tucker had one of my medallions, and all three of them had gotten a good look at the future ten years from now. Will they realize that I knew they were there the whole time?

I don't think Danny was afraid of me, and for that I am grateful. Unlike some, I do not try to be feared. It is just that people see that I have power over time, and most realize what I could do.

Speaking of Danny… They also say that absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is a hard thing to know at fourteen that, if the future had gone a certain way, he could have been a monster. In that timeline, he lost all will to live, so he found a way to die. Unfortunately, his ghost half wasn't ready to go down just yet, and it resulted in pure destruction.

Hmm. While I have been lost in my thoughts, things have continued down the path I had hoped for. Danny now has his future self in that thermos of his, and realized that he would be too late. Well, I have no reason to be seen as heartless.

"Time out!" Danny's face is amusing when he sees me. I guess he wasn't expecting that. The sheer amazement and relief on his face when he sees his family tells me that I have made the right choice. Perhaps I will even gain a friend. After all, it is indeed lonely to be even near the top.

"You've given everyone else in your life a second chance, why not you?"

> > > > > > > 

AN: I hope you enjoyed. I didn't think I'd be doing more in this vein, but it just kind of snuck up on me. I might do more of the characters, I don't know. It'd depend on how my brain works. I was just thinking about how Clockwork must feel a lot of the time, and this came out. Don't expect more, but I might surprise myself. Maybe next time it will be a human, but maybe not. Tell me if you liked it, I kind of enjoyed taking a look at Clockwork.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Guess.

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Sometimes, I think it's amazing just how misleading my name can be. After all, stars have their own light. I've never tried to have my own light, to have popularity on my own. I guess you could say I'm more of a moon than a star. 

That Foley kid once called me 'satellite'. I never called him on it, because in a way I know it's true. I just kind of orbit around Paulina. Sometimes, it's enough. Sometimes I tell myself that she's my friend. She isn't, not really. If it was convenient or even if she just felt like it, she'd drop me in a cold second, and I know it. Besides that, she knows I know it.

After all, look at Valerie. She thought Paulina was her friend, but as soon as she didn't have a lot of money anymore, Paulina dropped her like she was some kind of slimy worm. Some friend she turned out to be. And I know if she decided I wasn't worthy of being popular, I'd be dropped just as quickly.

Sometimes it's enough to be popular, to be friends with Paulina, queen of the social ranks. Sometimes I like it. Sometimes I don't feel like letting the world know that I'm not just some blond, orbiting in Paulina's popularity.

Other times, I wish I could be like Valerie, or even Sam Manson. Valerie may have been kicked out of the popular group, but I think she's happier now. Sam Manson may be one of the lowest in social rank, along with her two friends, but at least she knows that her friends will stand with her no matter what. At least she has the courage to defy the queen herself. At least she doesn't live a lie…

My name may be Star, but Tucker Foley was right. I'm nothing more than a satellite.

> > > > > > >

AN: Wow, that came out a lot more depressing than I thought it would be. I hope you like it.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Buy the magazine, or we shoot the dog. _(No, not really_.)

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It's hard being a know-it-all sometimes. Looking back, I can think of countless times Danny might have told mom and dad his secret, if I hadn't interfered. Every time he got up the nerve, I'd interrupt and he wouldn't be able to bring himself to continue.

How much pain and suffering would have never happened if I hadn't interfered? What would have happened if they'd known? How much difference could it have made, when Walker was trying to frame Danny for kidnapping the mayor, and when he succeeded? It was only the fact that dad didn't fully recharge her bazooka that kept Danny from being sent to the Ghost Zone the same way the prison guards were.

I've never asked what Danny felt, when his own mother pointed a gun at his head, and had every intention of using it. I'm not sure I _could_ ask about something like that.

More recently, after Danny finally found out that I knew about him, when I was trying so hard to help him and kept screwing everything up… Looking back, I really can't blame Danny for finally snapping at me. How many times_did_ I suck him into the thermos? I don't even know.

And then running to Vlad… I was so sure that I was right, that I never really stopped to think. I saw a side of Vlad then that I don't think I'd seen before. It was…scary. Knowing that with the push of a button, he could have killed me and had every intention of doing just that… Well. It really opened my eyes to what Danny deals with all the time.

I don't know what was worse. The fact that I finally found out some of what Danny deals with nearly every day…or the fact that I'd thought I already knew.

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AN: I haven't done anything with this one in a while, but I wanted to do a Jazz, so I did. I don't know how good it is, I'm rather neutral about it. Tell me what you think, if you want. I don't care.

Edit: Small change, I decided that last line didn't fit very well, so I took it out. Otherwise, it's the same.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: No, they aren't mine, no matter how cool it would be.

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I'm not just a copy, you know. Some people look at me and see me as nothing more than a flawed copy, a failed clone. I'm two years younger than the original, female, and if I use my powers too much I melt!

But that's not all that I am. I'm a hero, too. I just have to be more careful than Danny. I hope someday we can find a way to stabilize me, but until then I just have to keep going.

I called Vlad my father, once. After all, he'd created me. I felt like I owed him. He was so manipulative, being around me just enough for me to assume he cared. I was so naïve. If I'd thought about it, I might have realized that what he was doing was wrong. I suppose I was jealous of Danny. After all, he'd never had to worry about melting.

If Danny had been a girl, would I have ended up a guy? Is there some alternate universe where the original is two years older than me but has my face?

Weird thing to wonder, but it _is_ something I sometimes wonder. After all, one reason that Vlad considered me a failed clone was because I'm a girl while Danny is a guy. Of course, another reason is that I can actually think for myself, so I guess the fruit-loop isn't exactly the best judge.

I know I have a place. I know that I can be more than just a failure, more than just a little girl who could melt if she tried to fly for too long or used too many ecto-blasts. I think Danny knows too, and sometimes that's the only thing keeping me going.

To Vlad, I was just a mistake, a 'mess that Vlad's not going to clean up,' as Danny put it. But to Danny, I'm a person. He considers me family. I'm his cousin even though I'm his clone. Sometimes, that's all I can rely on.

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AN: Before anyone asks, this is set sometime after Danielle is first introduced, when she still had to worry about how much power she used.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Do you really think I'd be writing fanfiction if I owned Danny Phantom?

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I love to hunt. I have never kept it a secret. But usually the hunt is so boring, so short. There are so few I can hunt at will, and he is one of them. 

I sometimes wonder if the ghost-boy has realized that I won't actually permanently harm him if I ever catch him. After all, if I killed him, what would I hunt? I'd have to go back to releasing all the animals I've caught and kept so I can hunt all of them at once. I've done that. It was a challenge at the time, but now I think it would bore me. 

What challenge can there be in hunting an animal, even a ghost animal, after I've had such a target as the ghost-boy? None. The animals can't predict me and they don't fight back, not like he does. He fights me; he truly challenges me as I haven't been challenged in so very long. 

Of course, he doesn't see it the same way. He doesn't see the challenge, the echo of a thrill that I haven't seen in so long. To him, I'm just another opponent, but I dream of a time where I can fight him, ghost to ghost without the interference of his friends. That is the fight, the hunt that I dream of. To face him one-on-one, and find out who will win. 

I am Skulker, Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter, and I will ever seek my prey.

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AN: I kind of like this one, even though it's the shortest one so far. I might have made it a bit longer, but Skulker didn't stick around long enough for me to get a longer look into his head. Tell me what you think. _  
_


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Much as I'd love to claim him, I just can't.

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I love my family, ghost hunting, and fudge—not necessarily in that order. I'm big and enthusiastic and wear my heart on my sleeve. Anyone who knows me knows that, and some think that since I act like a happy child, I must be an idiot.

I'm not a complete fool; I know far more than others, even my own family would give me credit for. In fact, one of the largest, most complicated secrets I know is the one about my son.

I can't say I knew from the beginning—I didn't find out until we visited Vlad for the reunion—but I can say that in some ways I understand _why_ he kept that secret. After the incident with the mayor, if I hadn't already known, I'm not sure how I would have reacted, either.

But I know my son, and I know that he is not evil. Every invention I have capable of reading a ghost's ecto-signature says that he is about as close to neutral as any ghost is capable of being. That has only changed once as far as I know, and that wasn't Danny's fault. He couldn't have known there was a circus ringleader who could control ghosts, after all.

I sometimes wonder when he'll tell us, or if he will tell us at all. Until he does, I will do everything in my power to keep him from getting hurt by me or Maddie, whether it means tangling the Fenton Ghost Fisher or 'forgetting' to charge Maddie's bazooka.

…I smell fudge. Is Maddie cooking again?

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AN: Well, I'm not sure how much in character you could call it, but I don't think it's badly out of character either. Meh. I like Jack, and you have to admit, anyone who can invent some of the things he does is _not_ an idiot.


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